Quails Eggs Benedict

Quails Eggs?

Caviar?

Yup.

Expensive?

No. 

Sorry, I have been moving, and well...moving sucks. However I have a spare end table serving as a desk in my bedroom which rather resembles the Collier brothers house in 1947 (look it up it's freaky). 

Back to the post. I mentioned that I had made this and people I knew balked because they thought it was really expensive to make. Not so. 

I try to haunt the Asian Supermarkets, but they kicked me out for standing behind the bok choy and going, “Ooooo”. Ok, seriously for many even basic things they seem far cheaper than many grocery stores and with a wider variety of fun items like grass jelly, artificial wheat protein abalone, dehydrated seahorse, all great stuff that I have not yet used. 

At said store I found a favorite ingredient of mine (quails eggs) and I happened to have a small jar of caviar from IKEA of all places. So this dish sort of made itself by me having the ingredients on hand. 

Random tip, take a look in your pantry. What could you make without going to the store?

Just to alleviate concerns: yes I like gourmet food, yes I like to cook gourmet food, however I would rather watch the telly and get on with life like everyone else. I usually don’t post things that take excessive amounts of time. I just have an artistic bender when it comes to arranging food for photographs or for guests.

These little appetizers did not want to cooperate. It took making the sods several times and then faking it with cold hollandaise after I figured out that you have to cut a thin slice off the bottom of each hard boiled quails egg before placing it on the toast. Otherwise, once you place a healthy dollop of freaking hollandaise on top they fall over. Oh and not all at once, oh no that would be too freaking easy.

I had the tripod ready, camera focused and all of a sudden one would just flop over. I would curse, and then beg forgiveness of any and all Saints and G@ds that might be listening. Then I would set up the shot, clean off the plates and any dribble and run behind the camera and then one would plop over. This went on for half an hour until my long suffering Get Stuffed companion stated that “Duh” it’s going to fall over and spill freaking hollandaise and caviar all over all and sundry until you balance them.

Oops! did I ever mention that I was an idiot?

So that is the rule, boil the quails eggs then shell and cut in half and cut a sliver off the bottom (Rounded side, I don’t want to get sued again for telling someone to cut the wrong end of their egg.

Then again sue me; I have a better lawyer now.)

To make 24 quails eggs Benedict to serve twelve as a cocktail canapé or eight as a plated appetizer?

Ingredients:

12 Hard boiled quails eggs (From a can is fine, though fresh boiled cooled and shelled are better)

6 slices of standard sandwich bread (or your choice of grainy goodness)

6 very very very thin slices of ham, prociutto or 12nslices of Canadian bacon

½ Cup to 1 Cup of Hollandaise sauce

A dusting of paprika or red or black caviar to serve

How you do this? I tell you now:

Toast some bread, rye is exceptionally good for this. Make some Hollandaise (Knorr makes an excellent packaged one) and keep warm over hot water. Cut rounds using a small one inch round cookie cutter (I use old tomato paste cans that have both ends removed and run through the dishwasher); use the same cutter to cut out slices of cooked ham, Canadian bacon or prosciutto. 

Assembly!

Start with a piece of toast, then top with just a tiny amount of hollandaise using a small rubber spatula. Then place a slice of ham on this, then the quail’s egg with the sliver cut off the bottom so it does not fall over. Top with about a half a teaspoon of hollandaise then dust with paprika or top with caviar. 

Serve with glee, or a dry champagne.